Siding the House: Part 1

I say part 1, but it’s more like “years one, two, and three”. It’s been a long time in progress. And I have a long way to go, though I’m technically about 2/3 done. Potentially, all my creative energy (and time) outside of the shop and family things has funneled into this project.

It started in October 2015. Little did we know when we decided to side the house ourselves that we would, just two months later, opt to speed up our 5 year Little Woods plan to a 4 month period. We signed a lease and started the reno on our shop. So the siding took a back seat.

In 2015 we did tear off one side of the house, and found lots of dry rot and that kind of thing. After fixing it, I wrapped it up for the winter and did some reconstructive woodworking – which felt more like bondo-ing a car than woodworking.

In 2016 our kind friends helped us get the siding on that side done.

In 2017 I tore off another side and house wrapped it. As well as repaired the cracked window panes, glazed them, and replaced the window frames and reconstructed the window sill – dry rot. Oh and rotted studs had to be cut out and replaced. Let me just say. I never like seeing the inside of my house from the outside unless it’s through a window.

I also painted the porch and the other side of the house we sided in 2016. Doesn’t look too bad. Well except the gables. On this side it is in pretty okay shape so it has to wait until I’m ready to do all the gables… as in I need to figure out if I want replace or repair the siding and whether to keep it vertical or do shingles as an accent.

And here we are. Today I did a final coat of paint on the porch and painted the inner door blue. A couple weeks ago I replaced our storm door and just this week picked up the new storm windows we had made. Oh and last fall I glazed all the inner windows on the porch. What a huge difference that made with our heating bill!

A funny thing about the paint. When I painted the back of the house, the north side, it was flat. I’ve used flat paint before, but this was really chalky looking. Within a month it was super drab. I tried to wash it, but a spray down with the hose was not doing it. I still had one more final coat of paint so the paint store guy recommended eggshell. Which now looks super shiny. Weird. But it washes off really easily. And I’m 2/3 done and it takes 4 coats to go from white to plum. Just sayin’. I’m way too far in to turn back to flat now.

I know it seems like a lot and over a long duration, 3 summers now, but I enjoy the work and I get a pretty big boost of satisfaction when I finish a certain section. Or reconstruct a window frame. Or paint a door. Or replace a whole stud by sawing into the side of the house. Who doesn’t feel badass after doing that for the first time and having it actually work out okay and not collapse the house.